Apr 09 – Lima and Peruvian Jungle

Apr 09th 2017 – Lima

Free day in Lima, so we set out on our separate ways to explore the city. Paul and Mandy found a local bus tour and did an hour round Miraflores before doubling back to forage in the artisan shops and antigue shops.

Janette and Steve headed down the main drag to watch the Limones (local name for Lima citizens) enjoying their Sunday by keep fit dancing in the main streets, rollerblading, street basketball and sunbathing in the many central parks before heading off to the artisan markets.

This part of Lima has a great relaxed feel and vibe despite it being a city of 10 million people (total Peru population of 30 million so a third of the population live here). Being on the sea with good weather must help, but we didn’t realise that it is cloudy here for 6 months of the year and only has 21mm rain a year. We had come at the right time.

It was just lovely to be in the warm sun with shorts and sandals instead of walking trousers and hiking boots so we made the best of it.  Steve now fully without altitude sickness had perked up no end.

We headed next to an archaeological site in the centre of town which they call Huayna Pucllyana. They call it pyramids but it is a mud brick step site which houses the remains of 3 early civilisations going back to 3000 BC, way before the Incas. 

The site was only discovered in the 1970’s, before that it was just a hill. The archaeologists are still working on the site (there are 3 other hills) and the money raised from the visitors and tours is used to fund the excavations.

They call this site the Pyramids but we feel thay are a bit confused although it is a very impressive village/town and possibly one of the best preservd in Peru

Drinks outside in the balmy evening air and another great dinner - Spanish Paella, we headed off to bed for our next early start tomorrow as we leave Peru for our next destination Ecuador coming to the tail end of our trip.


















Apr 09 - SHEENA and EILEEN - In the Peruvian jungle on Bolivian border ....somewhere !

Our wake-up  call was at 5am this morning.  We surfaced from our mosquito nets and headed off on a six hour trek through the muddy swamps of Tambopata National reserve to reach Lake Sandoval close to the border with Bolivia. 

We slipped and slided along 6km of muddy swamps avoiding trees crawling with fire ants or tree bark covered in spikes.  It was a relief at last to reach the lake and board a canoe for an hour or so, taking in the local wildlife including giant otters, long-nosed bats, agami heron and hoatzin - or stinky bird as it's known.  

Long Nose Bats

Giant Otters

Stinky Bird !!

Before long  we were  slipping and sliding back the way we came. After lunch we were off again on the canopy/anaconda walk. There was a 30m climb up to the treetops then seven rope bridges to cross - just like the ones on "I'm a celebrity" - giving great ariel views of the different forest layers before climbing back down to the forest floor. 

Sadly we didn't see any anacondas but apparently you can have a selfie taken with one as it sleeps on the ground for one to two weeks after a good feed and is only dangerous when in the water. 

Drat, we wanted our photo taken with an anaconda!